Vehicle telematics communication using text encoding of binary data

1. A method of sending binary data via a short message service (SMS) over a wireless communication system, comprising the steps of:

(a) converting the binary data to encoded text according to an encoding scheme used by the wireless communication system to send SMS messages;

(b) sending the encoded text as an SMS message over the wireless communication system;

(c) receiving the SMS message containing the encoded text; and

(d) converting the encoded text back to the binary data;

wherein step (a) further comprises the steps of separating the binary data into groups of 6 bits and mapping each group of 6 bits to one of a plurality of encoded text characters; and

wherein the encoded text characters are selected from a group of encoded text characters that comprises the characters “a” through “z”, “A” through “Z”, “0” through “9”, and one or more non-alphanumeric symbols; and

wherein step (b) further comprises sending the SMS message from either a vehicle or a call center, step (c) further comprises receiving the SMS message at the other of the call center or vehicle, and step (d) further comprises recognizing that the sender of the SMS message is either the vehicle or call center by identifying a unique identifier associated with the sender.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless network used by the wireless communication system is a CDMA, GSM, or LTE wireless network.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the encoded text are characters that are encoded according to a standard such as ASCII, Unicode (e.g., UTF-8. UTF-16, etc.), GSM 03.38 or others.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein step (a) further comprises the step of adding an identifier to the encoded text identifying it as being a converted binary data and step (d) further comprises the step of converting the encoded text back to the binary data in response to receiving the identifier.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the groups of 6 bits are each groups of 6 successive bits of the binary data, and wherein step (a) further comprises providing each group of 6 successive bits with a binary value of its corresponding mapped encoded text character.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein steps (a)-(b) are performed by a vehicle telematics unit.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the unique identifier of the vehicle or call center comprises their corresponding phone number.

8. A method of sending binary data via a short message service (SMS) over a wireless communication system, comprising the steps of:

(a) obtaining binary data for transmission via a short message service (SMS) of a wireless communication system;

(b) grouping every 6 successive bits of the binary data;

(c) identifying for each group of 6 successive bits an associated text character that can be sent via SMS over the wireless communication system;

(d) creating an SMS message from the identified text characters; and

(e) sending the SMS message over the wireless communication system;

wherein step (c) further comprises providing each group of 6 successive bits with a binary value of its corresponding mapped encoded text character; and

wherein the encoded text characters are selected from a group of encoded text characters, that comprises the characters “a” through “z”, “A” through “Z”, “0” through “9”, and one or more non-alphanumeric symbols; and

wherein step (e) further comprises sending the SMS message from either a vehicle or a call center, receiving the SMS message at the other of the call center or vehicle, and recognizing that the sender of the SMS message is either the vehicle or call center by identifying a unique identifier associated with the sender.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein step (a) is preceded by an additional step determining that the communication is sent or received from/to vehicle to/from a call center.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the call center is a vehicle manufacturer related call center.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the encoded text are characters that are encoded according to a standard such as ASCII, Unicode (e.g., UTF-8. UTF-16, etc.), GSM 03.38 or others.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein step (d) further comprises the step of adding an identifier in the SMS message identifying it as being a converted binary data.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein steps (a) through (e) or part of them are performed by a vehicle telematics unit.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein step (d) further comprises creating the SMS message by concatenating the identified text characters together.

15. A communication unit for a vehicle for sending binary data via a short message service (SMS) over a wireless communication system, wherein the communication unit includes a processor and computer readable memory that contains instructions that are executed by the processor to carry out the following steps:

(a) converting the binary data to encoded text according to an encoding scheme used by the wireless communication system to send SMS messages;

(b) sending the encoded text as an SMS message over the wireless communication system;

(c) receiving the SMS message containing the encoded text; and

(d) converting the encoded text back to the binary data;

wherein step (a) further comprises the steps of separating the binary data into groups of 6 bits and mapping each group of 6 bits to one of a plurality of encoded text characters; and

wherein the encoded text characters are selected from a group of encoded text characters, that comprises the characters “a” through “z”, “A” through “Z”, “0” through “9”, and one or more non-alphanumeric symbols; and

wherein step (b) further comprises sending the SMS message from either a vehicle or a call center, step (c) further comprises receiving the SMS message at the other of the call center or vehicle, and step (d) further comprises recognizing that the sender of the SMS message is either the vehicle or call center by identifying a unique identifier associated with the sender.

16. A communication unit as defined in claim 15 , wherein the communication unit is a vehicle telematics unit.